For example, a semiconductor device manufacturing process includes a resist removing process for removing a resist coating a surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to simply as “wafer”). Resist removing processes disclosed in JP 2004-134525 A, JP 2003-332322 A and JP 2003-224102 A supply a mixed gas of ozone gas and steam into a processing vessel defining a processing space in which the wafer is placed to make the resist water-soluble by oxidizing the resist by the mixed gas, and removes the water-soluble resist with pure water.
A known processing system for carrying out such a process includes a processing vessel including a vessel body having an upper wall provided with an opening, and a lid covering the opening from above. The lid is lifted up to open the opening of the processing vessel, and then a workpiece is put into the processing vessel through the opening. The lower surface of a peripheral part of the lid is put into close contact with an edge part of the vessel body defining the opening to form a sealed processing space.
The lid is supported from above by a lid moving mechanism, such as a cylinder mechanism, and the lid is moved vertically relative to the vessel body by operating the lid moving mechanism (JP 2003-332322 A). The lid moving mechanism applies pressure to the lid to set the lid surely in close contact with the vessel body.
A locking mechanism for locking the lid in place proposed, for example, in JP 2003-332322 A is provided with plural rollers. This locking mechanism holds a peripheral part of the lid covering the opening and the edge part of the vessel body between plural upper rollers and plural lower rollers. Thus the lid is fixed in place to keep the lid in close contact with the vessel body.
A sealing member, such as an O ring, is placed on the upper surface of a peripheral part of the vessel body to seal a joint between the lower surface of the peripheral part of the lid and the vessel body. Construction proposed in JP 2003-224102 A places two sealing members, namely, an inner and an outer sealing member, on the upper surface of the peripheral part of the vessel body, and connects an exhaust line to a space between the inner and the outer sealing member to evacuate the space between the sealing members so that the close adhesion of the sealing members may be improved.